CHAPTER1
Aurora
In my purple dress,I run as hard as I can without looking back.
Into the darkness, into my biggest fear.
Complete and utter loneliness.
Even though tears run freely across my cheeks and my legs quake from the adrenaline, I keep going, far beyond the doors to the warehouse, across the pier, and into a narrow alley. I zigzag between the buildings. Ignoring the pain in my feet and muscles, I keep going, past all the warehouses, until I finally reach a road.
Pausing, I take a huge breath while bent over with my hands on my knees.
I gaze down at the pavement and at the salty droplets that slowly begin to cover it. Each one of those specks is a scream swallowed back down.
Don’t break down. Not yet.
I blow out a big breath and continue running, pushing back the sting of regret.
I have to keep going.
For him.
“Aurora.”
A familiar voice suddenly makes me stop and almost tumble forward.
Looking around, I only see warehouses and giant dumpsters. To the left, behind all the alleys, is an endless sea.
“Here.”
The voice comes from behind one of the dumpsters. And it’s definitely a guy, but he sounds like a mess.
Should I see who’s behind it? Or run like hell?
The same guy groans in pain.
How could I ignore that?
I sigh out loud but quickly make my way to the dumpsters to my right. My eyes widen the second I spot who’s lying in the rubble.
“Papa,” I mutter, and I rush over to him, only to stop mere inches away when our eyes connect, and I remember what he’d said to me.
I don’t even want her. I never did.
She’s a monster.
I swallow away the lump in my throat.
“Please …” he mutters, his breathing ragged. Uneven.
His body contains gashes and bruises from the torture Lex’s men did to him. God knows what else they subjected him to. He looks completely spent.
“Help me.” The visceral pain in his voice is hard to take.
He reaches for me but never comes close as his hand drops down to his body in defeat. And I blink away a couple of my tears.
I hate him for what he said.